


Satisfied

by QueenForADay



Series: Mercenary [9]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, F/M, Fluff, Inspired by a Musical Song, Reader-Insert, Steve Rogers Angst, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 11:32:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6954772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenForADay/pseuds/QueenForADay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve makes a decision.</p><p>*Inspired by Hamilton's "Satisfied"*</p>
            </blockquote>





	Satisfied

“Jesus, it’s painful to watch.”

“I agree. Something should be done about it.”

Steve looks over to the side of the living room. Natasha and Sam have their chins perched on their chins as they both smile coyly at the captain. He rolls his eyes and goes back to leaning against the doorway leading out on to the back porch.

The rest of the team are already out there, sprawled across cushioned seats under low-hanging lanterns and a fire pit between them. The compound opens up on to a large shooting range, but when the targets were put away, it’s the world’s largest backyard.

Steve can still hear Sam and Nat’s taunts – “I will _drag_ you out there if I have to Rogers”. He takes another swig of his beer and listens in on the conversation that is being had by the team. Tony’s telling one of his stories again about a time before all of this happened. Before he made and put on the suit, before Steve joined them in today’s world, before any of it.

He just can’t stop looking at her. How she rolls her eyes when Tony goes on a bit too long, how she tries to correct him with Rhodey, but they’re both ignored.

The way she threw her head back when she laughed, or how she was able to throw Tony’s legendary quips right back at him.

He takes another drink of his beer. It won’t affect him in the slightest. It’s something they had tremendous amount of fun trying to figure out: can Captain America get drunk? Turns out he can’t, but he still tries.

When Tony’s story finishes, Clint is in with one of his own. It’s getting late, and they’ve spent the majority of the night around the fire-pit, either telling stories or dishing out life advice. He just can’t stop watching her. The little things he notices about her just punches the air right out of his lungs. She listens to the stories – really _listens_. Every so often she looks up and meets Steve’s gaze. He always flinches slightly, because that’s when he realises that he’s been staring at her. She always gives him the warmest smile he’s ever seen on someone, and turns back to the group.

He should walk out there and take the free seat that’s next to her. It’s only occupied by her legs and feet as she’s lying sideways on it. He could do that. Or he could just stay here, beer in hand, and think about it for a bit longer.

There’s movement in the corner of his eye. When he looks over he smiles faintly at the sight of Bucky looking at the group, much like Steve is doing. He’s been in the compound for a few weeks since leaving Wakanda. T’Challa assured them all that he’s doing fine, but he still walks around carefully, like he’s walking on glass shards.

The way he’s standing at the other door to the porch, it seems like the feeling hasn’t gone away.

Steve keeps an eye on him. Clint rambles on about the first time he ever met Thor, and how he was going to kill him, but Steve blocks it out entirely.

Eventually, she gets up from the couch she’s on and wanders over to Steve. “Any more of them left?” she points to the beer bottle in his hand.

Tony balks. “What kind of compound do you think I’m running? Of course there’s more.”

She walks past him, and he can’t help but look after her. Even walking she’s graceful. He’s fought alongside her for too long and knows how she moves.

“I think we’re going to have to do something about this, Romanov,” Sam sighs heavily. When Steve looks over to them, they’re both smiling coyly at him. Natasha makes a point of getting up from her part of the couch, but Steve’s already walking after her.

“Go get her Soldier,” she laughs as she sits back down.

He finds her in the kitchen, cracking open a bottle of beer taken form the fridge. “I don’t think I could listen to another one of Tony’s escapades without this,” she chuckles as she takes a gulp of it.

With the rest of the team out on the porch, and Sam and Natasha talking among themselves on the couches in the living room, the kitchen is pretty quiet.

“So Soldier,” she smiles up at him, leaning against one of the metallic cabinets, “do you have any stories?”

Steve rubs the back of his neck. “Too many,” he laughs. They can still hear the rest of the team from outside. Steve looks over his shoulder when he hears shouting.

“There it is,” she smiles broadly when Clint’s voice coming in through the door. _It IS true! I never miss!_

She sighs loudly. “It can’t be an Avengers gathering without someone causing a fight.”

Steve’s smile grows. He walks over to where she’s standing. “Do you have any stories?” he asks.

She takes another gulp of beer and holds it up to him. “If I’m going to be telling you stories about my life, we’re going to need more beer than this.”

“That bad?”

“That complicated,” she clarifies.

“You’re talking to someone from the ‘40s who was frozen and thawed out in present day,” Steve shoots back, “I think I can handle it.”

She laughs at that. The laugh that he loves – when her eyes squint and her smile overtakes most of her face. “I suppose so Captain,” she hums.

There’s more shouting from outside – most Tony and Clint. She rolls her eyes and puts her now empty bottle of beer down on the kitchen table among the others. “I suppose I’m on duty,” she sighs. As she walks past, their shoulders brush. Steve will forever deny how his breath hitches slightly in his throat, and his heart hammers against his chest.

He watches her walk back through the living room and out onto the balcony. “Are you actually five year olds?!” she hollers at the fighting men.

Steve’s eyes move to Bucky who walks through the door. He smiles at Natasha and Sam who greet him as he walks by.

“How’re you doing?” Steve asks him. He’s spent the better part of his time with them treading on glass. That’s not to say that Steve doesn’t see him smiling sometimes. His eyes are a bit brighter and his laugh is a bit less forced.

It’s slow, but he’s slowly getting back to Bucky from the 40’s.

Bucky shrugs. “Alright, I guess,” he says. He looks over his shoulder to the door to the balcony and leans back against the kitchen cabinets.

Steve hands him a beer – someone else who can drink however much he likes and have no effect on him – and stands in front of him. “So, why are you here with me and not out with Tony and the gang?”

“Too loud,” Bucky shrugs again, taking a swig of beer.

His fingers tap against the side of the bottle. “You can go if you want,” Steve suggests, “no one is going to be angry or upset if you turn in for the night.”

Bucky looks up to him, and it’s when Steve notices that it’s the first time that he’s looked at him since walking in.

“Can I talk to you about something?”

Steve frowns. “Of course you can buddy, you know that.”

Bucky runs his fingers through his hair and sighs. “I’m…I’m doing better than I was,” he explains, “but…I don’t know, it sounds stupid-”

“-It’s not going to be,” Steve cuts in, “stupid was when you tried to hit on that girl with her boyfriend standing at the other side of the bar.”

That gets a small smile from Bucky. “To be fair, I didn’t know she was taken.”

“She had an engagement ring on,” Steve rolls his eyes with a fond smile on his face. Bucky’s memories were slowly returning to him. Day by day, he would remember something new. It never stopped surprising Steve how Bucky would regale him of a new story from their old lives.

“So,” Steve gets them back on track. He folds his arms over his chest. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

Bucky rubs the back of his neck. “It’s about…the girl you’re always talking to. It’s…it’s weird, I’m sorry, I don’t know how to explain it-”

Steve walks over to Bucky and stands beside him. “Explain it anyway,” he says.

Bucky looks down at his feet. “Do you ever get a feeling, sort of in the back of your mind that you just…I don’t know, you feel safer around them?”

Steve’s heart just about slams against his ribcage.

“It’s like how I am with you,” Bucky continues to explain; “I didn’t think I could feel safer around another person, but I do.”

He lets out a dry laugh and looks at Steve. “It’s weird, never mind-”

“-It’s not,” Steve says a bit hastily. He swallows the forming lump in his throat. Looking over to the door to the porch, he can see her sitting beside Clint with a narrow glare pointed to someone just behind the wall. It’s probably Tony.

Steve clears his throat. “You should talk to her,” he says, trying to put on his bright persona, “If you feel safer around her, then she’s someone you should talk to.”

Bucky frowns slightly. “What do I say?”

“The great Bucky Barnes getting tongue-tied over a girl,” Steve laughs dryly, “I never thought I’d see the day.”

Bucky punches him lightly in the shoulder and a small smile spreads over his face.

“Think about it at least,” Steve says, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Bucky nods.

That’s when Steve leaves him to go back outside. He meets her as she’s walking inside.

He raises his eyebrow at the emptied bottle in her hand. “Already?”

She shrugs. “Tony is telling a lot of crap, what can I say?” she laughs lightly. It’s something that punches him right in the gut.

He sees it. When his eyes part from hers, they look over her shoulder and see it: the look in Bucky’s eyes.

For a second, he thinks Bucky is looking at him. He isn’t.

He bites the inside of his cheek when the realisation hits him. It hits him like a freight car.

It’s something he’s never noticed before, but now that he knows, he can see it right in front of him. How Bucky’s shoulders are a bit too tensed, or how his movements are rigid.

“Steve?”

Her voice brings him back to the present. He looks at her.

“Is something wrong?” she asks him. She’s frowning slightly.

Steve looks over her shoulder again to Bucky and swallows thickly. “No,” he says with a forced smile. He gestures over to Bucky. “I just, I’m going to go to bed. Bucky looks like he could do with some company.”

She looks over her shoulder to Bucky and gives Steve a small smile. “Okay then, g’night.”

“Night,” he says as she steps away from him. He gets as far as the stairs before he looks again. Bucky’s shoulders aren’t as tensed, he’s slouched slightly. He looks better than he has in a long time. They’re talking and have smiles on both of their faces. It’s something he would have like to see for himself – he wants what he has now.

Bucky needs her though. He needs her more than he does.

He feels a hand on his shoulder. When he turns around he sees Sam.

“So, I saw what you did-”

“-Not now Sam-”

“-It’s a good thing you just did,” he says sternly. Natasha rounds the corner and stands at the bottom of the stairs. She fixes him with a sad smile.

“Are you going to be okay?”

Steve shrugs. “I will be.”

 

_**“I turn to see my sister’s face and she is-** _  
_**-Helpless** _  
_**And I know she is-** _  
_**-Helpless** _  
_**And her eyes are just-** _  
_**-Helpless”** _

**Author's Note:**

> [My Tumblr!](http://yourqueenforayear.tumblr.com/)
> 
> [When Bucky Looks At The Reader Inspiration Gif](https://66.media.tumblr.com/373a9dd14eb21f677a958e1dbc11a5dc/tumblr_o7e8pgpeVM1u25msro1_500.gif)
> 
> Change the "She" in the lyrics, and there you have a heartbreaking song about this fic that almost made me cry at work.


End file.
